"From what I saw with Tony, he's got great courage, he's smart, he loves this sport," Gibbs said Tuesday. "He's totally focused on it."

Gibbs said he was told by Stewart's representatives the driver is taking some time for himself right now, so he has been hesitant to reach out. But the driver has been in his prayers, Gibbs said.

"We all love Tony, we love what he did for us here," he said. "We know he's a racer's racer and he's big for our sport. I would love to have a chance to speak with him at some point and encourage him."

Stewart won two of his three Cup championships while running for Gibbs, in 2002 and 2005.

Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick and team owner Rick Hendrick are among those in NASCAR who have said they have not yet spoken to Stewart despite attempts to do so. SHR executive vice president Brett Frood said Friday that Stewart is at an undisclosed location surrounded by his closest family and friends while he grieves.

Ward attempted to confront Stewart on foot under a caution period during a sprint car race at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park, but was struck by Stewart's car and killed.

"This is a horrible thing to have happen â?? for the (Ward) family, for (Stewart) â?? so we're all praying for 'em," Gibbs said. "This is just hard to go through, so everybody is going to have to prayerfully work their way through it."

Gibbs recalled Stewart's days driving the No. 20 car, when the owner said he had to listen to Stewart start each meeting by talking about racing dirt cars for 30 minutes.

"What you learned after awhile, that's him -- that's Tony," Gibbs said, then added with a laugh: "I wanted to go, 'I don't care, OK?' But he was so excited."

Stories of Stewart's generosity will "hopefully come out," Gibbs added. One time, a JGR employee was in the process of adopting a child and Stewart stepped up to fill a financial gap, Gibbs said.

Gibbs said the Canandaigua tragedy was "one of those things you hoped would never happen."

"None of us dreamed it would happen," he said. "It did happen, and now you got to go through a process of working through it. But we're all praying for Tony and want to support him."